Rough Waters
by Willow Tracy
Summary: A series of Misadventures on how Lady Eves relationships with her Uncles bloomed. Cuteness nothing series no plot just little stories.
1. Chapter 1

_**Authors Notes: I had a thought about how little Lady Eve Blakeneys relationships with her Uncles were formed. So I got the idea to write them down. Just a series of misadventures...no real plot.**_

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_**Rough Waters**_

_**Uncle Hastings**_

_**Part 1**_

_**Age 8**_

Everyone knows that Eve has her three most loved Uncles. Each one was placed in said category for certain reasons. It was easy to see why she loved each one so, but no Uncle had more of a trying time with the little lady then Timothy Hastings.

He had no siblings save for his sister whom he had only met a few times. Yet he had no hand in raising her. So it was safe to say he had no idea what he was doing when it came to baby sitting the poor child.

Yet even though this information was well known specially by Percy yet he asked the man to baby sit her for a few hours while he had gone into town to pick up his wife who had just got finished visiting her brother and father in Paris.

The man had arrived just before the young lady got up. He had gotten a bit of time to pick out a book from the vast library and sat down to begin reading it. He had only just sat down when he heard the little pitter patter of feet on the floor. He looked up to see the little girl who still had sunking eyes, bruises, and limped every so often from the tortures of the dungeon life she and Percy had.

"Percy went to pick up Marguerite?" She asked in French still not able to speak good English. Lucky for Hastings he knew how to speak French. He also noticed she wasn't used to calling Percy Papa or Marguerite mama yet.

"Yes. He'll be back in a few hours he said. Go play until then hum?" He asked thumbing through the book.

"Um…" She thought for a moment and saw Hastings look up over the bindings.

"Yes?"

"Breakfast?" She asked, he let off an impatient sigh. She jumped and stepped back a bit before looking around for someplace to run. She was still very skittish around people she didn't know. She would occasionally flinch when Marguerite moved to fast, but wouldn't if Percy did the same thing.

"Should be on the table Eve." He offered trying not to sound too impatient. Eve nodded and walked back out of the room to return an hour later wearing a dress. She had a brush and a few ribbons in her hand. She planted herself down in front of a mirror and began to brush her hair. She didn't like it this short and he could tell.

It took her only a few minutes before her hair was braided and tied back by the ribbons. She then tisked at the way she looked before looking away. He didn't miss it, how could he. He was sitting not even five feet from her.

"Ugly." She said before standing up to leave him again.

"Ugly?" He asked and looked her up and down. "Your still a kid, you don't have to worry about that word till you get older. Your nothing but adorable right now. All kids are." He said. He saw the blush written on her face.

Once again about an hour or so later Eve walked into the lounge with a tray of tea. She walked over to Hastings. She sat down as gracefully as she could as she sat the tray down.

She pored the tea into a cup and looked up at Hastings.

"Oh uh…two sugars." He said and watched as she pored the sugar into the tea and went to hand it to him. Her little finger slipped a bit and the cup went toppling down. Her fingers were still healing, she had used her hands to block the abuse dealt to her by the soldiers in the dungeon.

Hastings jumped up with a loud yelp. The hot liquid melted into his trousers and all over his legs.

"You little welp…how could you be so careless?" The words were out of his mouth before he realized it. Hes head slowly turned to look at the young lady whose eyes were cast down at the marble floors.

The anger in him needed to be taken care of. He didn't need to be mad at the young lady standing next to him. He walked from the room into the fensing room. He would poke a few holes in the dummys that should help.

Eve thought about how she could fix things. A thought came to her mind, when she first got here and accidently broke a cup…one of Percy's favorite ones…even though Percy didn't seem to be mad Eve didn't want him to be. So Marguerite suggested writing an apology letter. Eve jumped up and ran toward the study where she knew there was plenty of paper, quill, and ink.

Hastings wasn't sure how long he had been fensing the dummy's. Needless to say Percy was going to need some new ones. He turned around just in time to see another blade zip passed his. He turned to see Eve standing there with a very small cutless.

"Hey…you're not supposed to be in here. You could get hurt. How long have you been in here?"

"About…well…I don't know. I came to give you this, and it looked like you were having fun…so I jointed you. Well…I tried to." She said watching Hastings quickly skim through the letter and put it back down.

"Fun…this…looks like fun to you?" He asked which wasn't that odd. He used to think so too.

"Can you teach me?" She asked and smiled brightly up at him.

"I don't think Lady Blakeney would be to happy that I spoiled your mind with manly learnings. " He said taking the blade from her and put it back on the stand.

"I learned while inside that dungeon Lord Hastings…that a soldier doesn't mind if you have a weapon or not…they'll shoot you anyways. I'd rather know how to fight back…cause then I'd have a chance."

Hastings looked at the kid bellow him and shook his head. 'Kids making sense…and its scaring me'

"Alright then…pick up your blade. Stand with your legs a bit apart and your sword straight out." He said

A little while later Percy walked into the room to see Hastings giving his daughter the finger points of beginners fencing.

"Hastings…what are you doing?"

"Teaching her how to defend herself Percy. Besides it was her idea not mine." Hastings said and pulled the blade from Eves hand just as Lady Blakeney walked into the room.

"Oh my darling I do hope these men haven't ruffled your feathers while I was gone." She took the little girls hands and walked her out of the room to be pampered like a lady should.

"So I see you've taken a shine to her then?" Percy asked Hastings who shook his head.

"No…not in the least." Hastings put the swords back where they belonged and walked out onto the balcony to get some fresh air.

"Liar…" Percy said only to confirm the notion when Hastings turned around slightly with a smile…a very rare smile. A secret smile only for the little girl.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Authors Notes: Just so you know why I haven't wrote another chapter for 'Safe in your Arms' cause my kids are sick and I can't sit down long enough to make a good enough chapter that can pass of as good chapter. Don't worry After Tuesday the grandparents have them for a month and a half :D I can do awesome stuff!**_

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_**Rough Waters**_

_**Uncle Andrew**_

_**Part 2**_

_**Age 8**_

Each Uncle had there roles to play with the little Lady. Hastings was to teach Eve to use the Cutlass, Tony was to play with her while Percy was on missions, and Andrew was to teach her educate. More specifically dancing.

Eves feet were still hurting her, but his royal highness's words struck her as 'you better learn or out you'll go' So she asked Percy to teach her to dance. Percy wasn't very good with dancing so asked Andrew to help her with it.

The Calliope was playing loud music in the manor. She kept looking down at her feet and then at Andrew who was allowed to dance with Lady Blakeney while teaching Eve. He at one point tried to dance by himself but ended up falling or tripping over his own two feet no less then eight times. Percy took pity on the man.

Eve finally stood in front of her Uncle and took his hand in hers. "Alright now remember let the man lead." Andrew said and began to dance with Eve who was doing really well.

"What do I do if the man can't lead really well?" Eve asked looking back down at her feet so she didn't miss a step.

"You tread on his toes." Andrew chuckled and just as he said that Eve stepped on his toes and lost her footing.

"Ouch…" She groaned rubbing her hip. The hard wood floor wasn't very good to fall down on. She stood back up and took his hand again.

"Alright ready?" He asked and started to lead her again. They got a bit further and suddenly Andrews toes were in great pain again. He looked down at her. She looked rather embarrassed by this and then held out her hand once more. Andrew looked over at Percy who noticed that she was a bit discouraged.

"How about we try one more time and then have some tea?" Andrew asked. Eve looked up at him.

"But I need practice. How am I supposed to learn to dance if I don't practice?" Eve looked up at Andrew.

"Alright sweetheart but you should take breaks or you'll get sore." He said and continued to help her dance.

_On into the night_

Marguerite had long since gone to sleep, and Percy was dozing in the chair. The music had stopped a long time ago, and Eve had started to show signs of stopping finally. Andrew finally picked her up and walked toward the couch.

'1…2…no…no I can 3…4…dun stop 5…" Eve was so tired she started doing dance numbers in her sleep. Percy looked around at his daughter and ran his fingers over her head.

"How did she do?" Percy asked. Andrew sighed and shrugged.

"She'll be fine, but I do think her feet are hurting her really bad right now." He said not wanting to lift her foot up. It just wasn't proper for someone other then the parents to see the ankles of a young lady.

Percy walked over and sat down on the table near the fireplace which was blazing hot. Percy looked over her feet and sighed. "Yes I see what you mean. Blood shot red, hand me that salve will you? I brought it knowing full well she would dance on into the night with you." Percy said smearing some onto her feet. She gasped waking instantly and tried to push Percy's hand away from her feet.

"It has to go on darling or its not going to heal properly. Now hold still won't you?" Percy said. Eve gasped and suddenly grew silent when he looked up to see Andrew sitting on the floor, Eves hand in his and running his fingers over the poor childs head. Her eyes would flutter sometimes, but she would stay awake.

Andrew took to telling Eve many little stories of them in there youth. Specially the boycott of schooling where her father Percy turned off the water to the whole school until a teacher was removed from power.

"Percy…"

"Hum?" Percy wrapped up her feet in stockings and looked around at her.

"When did you figure you wanted to be the Scarlet Pimpernel?"

"When his caretaker dropped him on his head as a child." Andrew answered and got swatted.

"I wasn't dropped!" Percy exclaimed putting the salve back on the table.

"No more questions…time for bed." Percy said

"Percy can Uncle Andrew stay the night?"

"Uncle Andrew?"

"I wanna get started on my lessons bright and early."

"Percy…do you think you have anymore of that salve? I think I'm going to need some." Andrew said and chuckled when Eve threw her pillow at him.


	3. Chapter 3

_**Authors Notes: Yay my kids are off at grandparents for 6 weeks :D Imma write to my hearts content :D**_

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_**Rough Waters**_

_**The League**_

_**Part 3**_

_**Age 8**_

It was another one of those bad dreams of torture, blood, and pain. She had them often actually, and they always involved her. Until tonight when she was forced to watch Percy endure the pain instead of her. Bad thing about it was, no one in the house knew until now.

She was sitting in bed, sweat beading up on her forehead. She didn't know what to do, she just looked down at the covers that she bad under her balled up fists.

She heard loud foot falls beating down the hallway. She knew the door opened, and she felt someone sit down on the bed and lay his hand on hers. She slowly looked up into those bright blue eyes of the man who adopted her.

"Bad dream?" He asked in that deep voice that was always so kind to her.

"Yes sir." She whispered and climbed out of her covers. She climbed into his lap and just put her head on his chest.

Percy knew something was going on for the past few weeks. He could feel it coming from her.

"Percy?" She asked half asleep in his lap. "I'm sorry I woke you. I didn't mean to." She said and took hold of the ruffled cuffs of his shirt. He reached over running his fingers down her tiny arm.

"I wasn't asleep." He informed her quietly. "I'm still going over documents with the League. " He said and looked over the young girl who was absentmindedly playing with the ruffles on his shirt.

"Oh…sorry…" She sniffled and looked up at Percy who smiled at her. He stood up carrying her down the hallway and into his study. He sat down in the chair he had vacated still holding onto Eve who looked over his shoulder at a few men behind the couch. Two of which looked like French guards. Uniform and all. She gasped and buried her face in Percy's shoulder.

"Oh Eve you know me! I can't have scared you that bad." She looked up again and Tony removed his fake mustache and winked at her. She giggled and looked around the room again.

Tony walked around the couch and sat down, letting the young girl to crawl onto his lap.

"Hey there small one. Not sleeping to well huh?" He asked. Tony had a little sister so knew how to talk to little girls.

"MMhum…" Eve said quietly still very unsure of the people around her, but as she got to looking she realized she knew more then half of them. "I dreamed we were back in that dungeon…being tortured. The both of us." Eve informed them all. Everyone seemed to lean in to listen to her tiny voice. The new heir that Percy adopted seemed rather overwhelmed for a moment.

"Oh don't you worry your self any sweet heart. Your army is at your beck and call. If you need any of us we'll be right there for you. Don't worry that pretty head of yours." One with brown hair said. His accent was a bit strange to her, but she understood it.

"Um…army?" She asked and looked up at Tony who chuckled.

"Yes ma'me. Your Papa is the Pimpernel…and he has an army of 19 men with many contacts between them. I'd say with all our contacts and the 19 men…we're over a thousand strong." Tony said.

"Plus Percy, and your Mama…"

"So…your my…Uncles?" She asked and every man in the room stood up to there full height and took off there hats to her.

"If that is what you want from us…then we'll be your Uncles."

"I have twenty Uncles Papa!" She gasped and put her hand over her mouth. She looked up at Percy apparently her calling him Papa wasn't something they've talked about. She just called him Percy out of habit.

"Yes my love it appears that you do." Percy said tapping her nose lightly. She giggled and hugged Tony tightly only to be picked up by one Uncle after the other being introduced to one by one. Finally she was sat on Hastings lap. The last one. Eve giggled and kissed his nose.

"I know you." She giggled and hopped down. Hastings chuckled and waved her off.

"The only person in the whole of creation that can make that unhappy man smile…and she's falling back asleep on Percy's lap." Andrew said to Tony who nodded seeing Hastings smile at the little girl who smiled back as she slowly fell asleep.

"Sweet dreams little Lady." Percy gently said and kissed her forehead.

It was safe to say if she ever had any dreams like she had before they didn't know. They hoped that she did, that way they could fight off all her demons and all the enemies so they could show her that they meant what they said. But they also wished that she never had to use her army. After all what Uncle would wish misfortune on such a gentle little girl. But if the situation arouse then they were ready to defend her fang and claw.


	4. Chapter 4

_**Authors Notes: I had to cry a bit with this one. Poor Eve...*Le sigh.***_

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_**Rough Waters**_

_**Part 4**_

_**Hastings**_

_**Age 11**_

There was one part of the year that Eve tended to dread more then anything. Mainly because Percy had never been there. He had always been off on business, or 'business'. She understood really, she was always his number one supporter when he went to Paris to save peoples lives. But it never stopped her from hating her birthday ever since she came to live with the Blakeney's. So you can imagine her delight when she was informed that her Papa would be at home for her birthday this year.

Eve had put on her newest dress and had her mother put bows in her hair. She even wore her brand new shoes that made the halls echo whenever she walked.

She went up and down the hallways giggling at the echo most of the day. Even when the guests all but left and the League, and her father retired to the lounge to talk. The door was wide open to the study. She had no idea her Uncle Timmy was in the room with a pounding headache and every echo those shoes made hurt his head more.

If you knew anything about Sir Timothy Hastings not to be confused with his cousin Sir Richard Hastings who was a mild mannered man and well known to both families and would hurt a fly…Sir Timothy Hastings was a man completely opposite to that of his cousin. It took Eves Uncle Timmy some years to get used to Eves ability to make herself laugh because she never had any friends to play with when she was younger.

Being a man he always dealt with things the manly type way and never had to deal with women. So you can imagine how this went…which was…very…very bad.

Hastings jumped up and glared at the young woman how was now in her night dress and still had on her shoes. She would walk a few steps and giggle holding her now laying down hair out of the way of her view. She turned around and did it again. In Hastings mind she was doing it to spite him. How could one little girl get so much enjoyment out of those stupid shoes?

Eve went running by now and then laughed very hard and then looked down. This was the last straw he stood up letting his anger get the best of him.

Mind you, he wasn't in his right mind and being in pain like this man was clouded the mind.

"Eve!" She jumped and looked up at Hastings as his hand hit her face. She found herself looking up at him, his anger written perfectly. "Stop running around in those shoes your making so much noise you can wake the dead! Its unladylike and you know it" He growled. Apparently his yelling could be heard from where Percy and the League were.

Percy looked at Eve on the ground holding her little face, and then Hastings as he stood over her with clenched fists. It was obvious even to everyone else what had just happened. Percy quietly walked over to Hastings and took him by the elbow gently.

"She is a child Hastings…one who trusts you…or rather…trusted you. I think you need to sit down a little and think about that." Percy said leading him into a chair and looked around at Eve who was in Andrews arms quietly crying not really knowing why she was punished so savagely. Percy took his daughter into his own arms and carried her to her room. Laying her down gently in her bed and explained to her that her Uncle Hastings wasn't very good with kids, and his temper normally got the better of him. He even went as far as to tell her she should make him eat those shoes for what he did. Percy was angry and she knew it, but he hid it better then Hastings does. As a matter of fact she hardly ever seen her father angry, sad yes, happy a lot. But Angry? Not so much.

Eve sat down on her bed sniffling for some hours until she heard a knock on the door. She bayed the person in, but the door slowly opened and Hastings quietly walked into the room. Eve swallowed until she saw the look on his face. He was scared, truly and greatly scared. Eve suddenly thought her father must have threatened the poor man within an inch of his life. That would scare her anyways. She looked at her Uncle as he held out a piece of paper.

She read over it for a moment and suddenly realized what he had done…did what she did when she was 8. It was an apology letter written in French. She had long since abandoned her birth language since no one in Britain ever used it.

"You're an idiot…a beautifully stupid idiot." She jumped up and hugged him. She haden't even read the letter, but she knew when she threw her arms around him that everything was okay again. He held her so tightly that she feared that she would break. He walked her over to her bed and sat down before letting her go. That was when she actually saw tears running down this poor mans face. She had never seen this man cry before. She always used him as a stable rock because of it. Now he looked far more human then she ever knew.

Hastings ran his fingers over the still fire red hand print. His hand print. She took his hand and kissed his knuckles.

"Daddy says you have a problem with your temper and that I should help you. Says he's ordered you to come by once a week to play with me. You don't have to if you don't want to." Eve said hugging him tightly which was reciprocated in kind. She could tell by his behavior that he wasn't going to back down at all. He knew he hurt her, and this was what he MUST do to make things better and he was determined to make this better. He wanted to be an Uncle to her, one of her favorite Uncles. He loved this little girl so much and he didn't realize just how much until today. He would do anything she asked, play any game…even dress up if she wanted him to.

"I better go then. Its your bed time."

"Nope…tonights first lesson. Slumber parties. I've never had one before but I suppose we can make things up as we go along." She said and smiled up at him. "Okay? Is that okay?" She asked.

"If its what you want."

"Oh its not what I want alone, being friends means you have to both decide to do it together…not just one of us. That's just using someone if you do it the other way around." She said and kissed his cheek.

He wasn't sure what he had just got himself into…but he was pretty sure by the first hour as he watched Eve sleep that he didn't mind these slumber parties. All they did was sit around and draw for a little while and talk about old thing. He didn't mind it at all. As a matter of fact, it was the most fun he had with her…ever.

"Good night Eve." He whispered kissing her forehead before standing up and walking out the door. He gasped when he came face to face with Marguerite who slapped him properly on the face. But then she smiled at him and pointed back to Eves bedroom.

"Its not a proper slumber party if you don't stay the night with her. We've brought you blankets…you can sleep on the floor. Which actually means she's supposed to too. But I don't want her wound acting up because of the hard wood floor." Marguerite said and handed a blanket, pillow, and sheet to Hastings who sighed.

"I'll be checking on you periodically." She said as she turned around apparently not appreciating what had happened as she was saying fair well to the rest of the guests. Hastings touched his face and looked back at the slightly sleeping lady. He walked into the room and sat down on the floor. He pulled the blanket up to his chin and leaned against the wall. It was alright…he'll watch over her, make sure no demons come for her in the night.

Never again he promised…never again will anyone raise a hand to her while he was around and survive to tell anyone about it. This was his own promise to her, a silent promise he would defend her Fang and claw. Even from himself.


End file.
